Nimal's Weblog » Documentary

Smart Card (2005) – A Sci-Fi Short

Nimal — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:30:00 +0000

Ramanan pointed me to a short film Smart Card, produced and directed by James Oxford, is a science fiction film about the horrors of living with modern technology, where every transaction is done through one system, Smart Card.

Part 1:

Smart Card (2005) – Part 1 on YouTube

Part 2:

Smart Card (2005) – Part 2 on YouTube

I found this one interesting as I have been in a project for sometime where we are dealing with some smart card stuff. Smart Card is a smart film that will make you laugh, think, and then start to worry about the dangers of letting technology get the best of you. This well executed storyline has won many awards from various film festivals for Best Short Film, details here.

Thought I feel it is too dramatic to think this would happen in near future, I think we are little too much addicted to technology and there might be day when we start to go behind technology.

The full film can be downloaded from the Oxford Entertainment website, where you can get many more details about “Smart Card“. You can also download Smart Card directly from here.

Smart Card (2005) – A Sci-Fi Short is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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The Story of India (A BBC Documentary)

Nimal — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:15:00 +0000

The world's largest democracy and a rising economic giant, India is now as well known across the globe for its mastery of computer technology as it is for its many-armed gods and its famous spiritual traditions. But India is also the world's most ancient surviving civilisation, with unbroken continuity back into prehistory.
… This series sets out for the first time to do that: to show a world audience the wonders of India; the incredible richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes; and the intense drama of its past, including some of the most momentous, exciting and moving events in world history.

I happened to come across this wonderful series sometime back (during my final semester exams) and I truly believe this is one of the best stories I have ever watched. I watched these six-part series each after my six final semester exams, and I think this helped me even to get over some of the crazy exams I had .

Historian, writer and television presenter Michael Wood presents this as a six-part series where he embarks on a dazzling and exciting journey through today's India, 'seeking in the present for clues to her past, and in the past for clues to her future'. This series aired on for BBC during later part of 2007 is also available on DVD or Blu-ray along with a companion book by Michael Wood.

I would encourage everyone who can afford to buy a DVD of this, but if you are someone like me who can't afford to buy, you can watch these online from the following links.

Episode 1 – Beginnings
On Google Video | On Google Video (Alternative) | On YouTube | Download via Torrent

Michael Wood journeys through the subcontinent, tracing the incredible richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes. Through ancient manuscripts and oral tales Michael charts the first human migrations out of Africa. He travels from the tropical backwaters of South India through lost ancient cities in Pakistan to the vibrant landscapes of the Ganges plain. In Turkmenistan dramatic archaeological discoveries cast new light on India's past.

Episode 2 – The Power of Ideas
On Google Video | On YouTube | Download via Torrent

Michael Wood's epic series moves on to the revolutionary years after 500BC – the Age of the Buddha. Travelling by rail to the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, by army convoy through Northern Iraq, and on down the Khyber Pass, he shows how Alexander the Great's invasion of India inspired her first empire.

Episode 3 – Spice Routes and Silk Roads
On Google Video | On YouTube | Download via Torrent

In this episode he traces India in the days of the Roman Empire. In Kerala the spice trade opened India to the world, whilst gold and silk bazaars in the ancient city of Madurai were a delight for visiting Greek traders. From the deserts of Turkmenistan Michael travels down the Khyber Pass to Pakistan to discover a forgotten Indian Empire that opened up the Silk Route and at Peshawar built a lost Wonder of the World.

Episode 4 – Ages of Gold
On Google Video | On YouTube | Download via Torrent

Documentary series about the history of India. Presenter Michael Wood seeks out the achievements of the country's golden age, discovering how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the Earth and wrote the world's first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, he visits the giant temple of Tanjore and sees traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago.

Episode 5 – The Meeting of Two Oceans
On Google Video | On YouTube | Download via Torrent

The documentary series about the history of India charts the coming of Islam to the subcontinent and one of the greatest ages of world civilisation: the Mughals. Michael Wood visits Sufi shrines in Old Delhi, desert fortresses in Rajasthan and the cities of Lahore and Agra, where he offers a new theory on the design of the Taj Mahal. He also looks at the life of Akbar, a Muslim emperor who decreed that no one religion could hold the ultimate truth, but whose dream of unity ended in civil war.

Episode 6 – Freedom and Liberation
On YouTube | Download via Torrent

This episode examines the British Raj and India's struggle for freedom. Wood reveals how in South India a global corporation came to control much of the subcontinent, and explores the magical culture of Lucknow, discovering the enigmatic Briton who helped found the freedom movement. He traces the Amritsar massacre, the rise of Gandhi and Nehru, and the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.

Few more links:

Little Note for copyright advocates: None of the videos linked here are uploaded or hosted by myself, thus don't be too crazy to file a lawsuit against me. But if some one can please please do so, I'd be rather happy because I can be "famous" .

The Story of India (A BBC Documentary) is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Good Copy Bad Copy (Documentary)

Nimal — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:25:00 +0000

“Good Copy Bad Copy – a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture”, is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances. A central point of the documentary is the thesis that “creativity itself is on the line” and that a balance needs to be struck, or that there is a conflict, between protecting the right of those who own intellectual property and the rights of future generations to create. It features interviews with many people with various perspectives on copyright, including copyright lawyers, producers and artists.

I was able to agree with many of the concerns raised in this documentary, but I know that everyone would not. So if you have an opposite idea just comment onto this post,hope we can have a discussion.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Copy_Bad_Copy

Official web site:
http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net (Watch Online)

Download:
http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/download (Torrent)

Watch here:

Good Copy Bad Copy (Documentary) is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

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Mysteries Of Asia – Jewels in the Jungle (Documentary)

Nimal — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:37:00 +0000

Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor built in the early 12th century for the king Suryavarman II as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture.

This episode of the three-part Learning Channel series takes an in-depth look at the many mysteries surrounding the temple ruins at Angkor. Interviewed experts explain that back in 1860, when the first European explorer discovered the ruins in north-western Cambodia, he was told by local residents that the huge structures had either been built by giants or had built themselves. Others would later come up with more practical theories, including those who believed that the temples were built by Jews who migrated to China or by Alexander the Great.

In fact, these 100 or so temples were actually constructed during the reign of the Khmer Empire, between the ninth and 14th centuries. Modern footage and maps provide viewers with additional information about these large temples.

Watch this part online:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1178438798707989438

Buy all parts DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587270765/

More reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

Mysteries Of Asia – Jewels in the Jungle (Documentary) is a post from: Nimal's Weblog

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.